Leading With the Brain in Mind

Being a leader can be hard. The statistics show that a majority of the workforce feels disengaged. People are not going the extra mile organizations need them to. Sandra McDowell, public speaker, workshop facilitator and author is teaching aspiring and established leaders that leadership can be very simple through the field of neuroleadership.

In this podcast episode, Sandra talks about her public speaking career, dives into her new book ‘Your Mother Was Right: 15 Unexpected Lessons About Neuroleadership and the Brain‘, and shares tips on how we can all become better leaders.

I hope Sandra inspires you to take on her simple leadership lessons. She certainly inspired me. Have a listen, won’t you?

Show Highlights

1:48 The catalyst that got her starting on writing her book

4:00 What is neuroleadership?

8:40 The emotional brain vs. the thinking brain

12:28 How healthy sleep habits impact your leadership skills

19:20 How inclusion impacts corporations

22:50 Always plan for the “what ifs” and the worst

24:07 Her experience speaking at the credit union event in Vienna

27:30 One of the first time she took the stage and how that kickstarted her public speaking career

30:23 Sandra shares her key learnings from being a public speaker

Where to Find Sandra

Visit her website: Sandra McDowell

Read her book: Your Mother Was Right: 15 Unexpected Lessons About Neuroleadership and the Brain

Learn more about her online program: e-Leadership Academy

Follow her on Twitter

About Sandra

Sandra is a sought-after speaker and facilitator on the topic of leading with the brain in mind. She has spoken for groups of all size, from teams of 5 people to international conferences with 2500 attendees.  Sandra has a wealth of experience as a keynote speaker, webinar speaker, and workshop facilitator.

This year Sandra will be speaking on the topics of NeuroLeadership and Mindfulness at a number of conferences nationally and internationally. Attendees of her sessions will learn how distractions can negatively impact their performance as leaders, and how self-awareness and focus can increase effectiveness. Attendees gain an increased understanding of how to harness the brain for improved productivity, communication, and overall well-being.

Sandra takes complicated topics, such as leadership, neuroleadership, and mindfulness, and explains them in a relatable way that supports leaders to lead themselves and others more effectively with the brain in mind.

Melissa is the real deal. I had the good fortune of meeting her because she invited me to lunch and I consider myself lucky. She calls herself a Free-Spirited, Dream-Chasing Adventure Junkie and Published Scribbler. She is the author of “Learning to Play with a Lion’s Testicles”, which is a South African expression that means, ‘have the courage to have the courage.’

Melissa has the courage and then some.

Listen in, won’t you?

Show Notes

3:06: Managing stage anxiety by playing with the lion’s testicles

4:20: 92% of people give up on their dreams before they even try

7:00: The opposite of fear is conformity

9:13: Feeding (and being at one) with the cheetah and facing her fears

13:04: Facing fear again – Being featured on Jimmy Fallon

17:38: P.L.A.Y. – Permission, Lay low, Acknowledge your fear, and Y not.

24:21: The effect Melissa’s story has had on others

Where to Find Melissa

Web: Melissa Haynes

Book: Learning to Play with a Lion’s Testicles: Unexpected Gifts From the Animals of Africa

TEDx Talk: The Secret of Achievers, Conquerors, & Living Life to the Fullest.

Twitter: Melissa J Haynes

About Melissa

Melissa Haynes studied Business at BCIT and Thompson Rivers University where she graduated with honors. In her previous life she worked in advertising and ran a business in Central America.

She was a project manager for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver and ghostwrote a column about entertaining in the Vancouver Courier and a chapter in the award-winning chef’s cookbook Inside the Recipe Box.

Melissa moved to Los Angeles and sublet a century-old walk-up on Sunset Boulevard where her writing career was launched and her fear of cockroaches quickly dissipated after numerous encounters.

She is a chronic adventure junkie, outdoor enthusiast, travel addict and loves anything created by the Big Guy above – including spiders (trap and release professional from tiny specs to big and hairys).

She is most passionate about animals, people, adventure, nature, conservation, and scribbling.

Activist, author, and ageism expert, Ashton Applewhite is fuelling change on what it means to be aging. She’s been invited to speak on stages around the world including the United Nations and the TED stage.

In our interview, she blows me away with some of my own biases on aging and I’m sure she’ll shake some of your perspectives too. We chat about her presentation to the United Nations, how she prepared for her TED talk, what it means to be ageist, and how to not be that person who contributes to the problem.

Show highlights

4:00:  How aging isn’t something that ‘just’ happens to us

8:38:  Allure bans the word “anti-aging” from their magazine pages – Bravo!

9:15:  How being “ageist” is when you make decisions about someone based on their age, including yourself

13:44:  Why you should always assume capacity and not incapacity

15:40:  Yale research on using elder speak words such as “dear” and sweetie” and their effects

19:50:  How change happens when you invite dialogue instead of being offended

23:36:  How aging is a natural, powerful lifelong process that should unite us not disenfranchise some

24:19:  Ashton’s presentation at the United Nations and its impact

26:14:  How Ashton made it to the TED stage

29:37:  The process of getting ready for her TED talk

31:45:  How she managed her anxiety before her TED talk in Vancouver

32:27:  How it feels to be the last person to present on the TED stage

33:25:  Dissecting the “curve of happiness”

40:40:  How Ashton plans to continue to help us face age bias

Resources 

Watch her TED talk and share it if you enjoy it: Let’s end ageism

Read her blog: This Chair Rocks

Read her Q&A blog: Yo Is this Ageist? 

Buy her book: This Chair Rocks: A Manifesto Against Ageism

Follow Ashton on Twitter and Facebook.

About Ashton Applewhite

Next Avenue’s annual list of 50 Influencers in Aging as their Influencer of the Year.  Ashton has been recognized by the New York Times, National Public Radio, and the American Society on Aging as an expert on ageism. She blogs at This Chair Rocks, has written for Harper’s, Playboy, and the New York Times, and is the voice of Yo, Is This Ageist? Ashton speaks widely, at venues that have ranged from universities and community centers to the TED mainstage and the United Nations. Ashton is a leading spokesperson for a movement to mobilize against discrimination on the basis of age.

If you haven’t already watched Shrina Kurani’s TEDx talk you should. Shrina had less than four hours to prepare for her talk. I can’t even begin to imagine the pressure. But she handled the pressure like a pro.  Right from the start of her talk, she drew me in with her hook – it was only four lines. I won’t spill. You’ll need to watch How Your Dinner Could Save the World for yourself.

Saying “yes” that day to the TEDxSalinas organizers quickly put her in a panic as she realized what she signed up for. However, she calmly got back up on her feet and realized something else, “You’ve already won by simply saying yes”.

Come join me as Shrina humbly shares her story of her work in the Himalayas, how the experience inspired her TEDx talk, and how she prepared in such a tight timeframe.

Show Highlights

3:44 Why Shrina agreed to be a TEDx speaker four hours before it started

4:30 How she managed to gain confidence and get into the “I can do it” mindset

5:20 The first step she took to developing her speech framework

7:30 Her experience in the Himalayas and its connection to her passion for sustainability

9:09 How she came up with the “hook” of her presentation

12:00 The one piece of advice she received from another speaker

15:42 Using the questions “how” and “why” to develop her presentation

17:11 Keeping her audience in mind as she spoke about food and sustainability

21:30 Empowering women by getting them to step into the role of the beekeepers

23:16 Shrina’s important call-to-action at the end of her TEDx presentation

Resources

Follow Shrina on LinkedIn

Shrina TedxSalinas talk “How Your Dinner Could Save the World”

About Shrina Kurani

Shrina Kurani backs entrepreneurs to build better worlds by designing technologies that work for people and our planet. An engineer turned sustainability scientist, her international background includes research, engineering consultancy, and systems design to social entrepreneurship and business development.  

As many of you know promoting gender diversity on stage is a subject close to my heart. It actually ticks me off (watering down my words) that in 2017 we aren’t anywhere near parity.

When I found, “There Aren’t Enough Qualified Women Speakers” and Other Garbage Excuses for Why Your Marketing Event Isn’t Gender Diverse“, co-authored by Stefanie Grieser and Amy Wood, I was excited to hear Stef and Amy were championing more female speakers to take the stage.

When Stefanie Grieser organized the Call to Action Conference (CTAConf) four years ago, she sang the same old myth when asked why the majority of her panel were males: “There aren’t enough qualified female speakers.”

Four years later, she knows this was an excuse. Stefanie has not only shared the stage as a speaker at Unbounce but has made it her goal to have both genders represented equally on stage. Stefanie has started the #PresentHer movement, a compiled list of female speakers from the marketing and technology industries.

Come join me as Stefanie shares about her experience getting stage ready for the first time, what it’s like for female speakers at conferences, and how she’s changing the issue of gender diversity by supporting women to take the stage.

Show Highlights

2:16  How the article,“There Aren’t Enough Qualified Women Speakers” and Other Garbage Excuses for Why Your Marketing Event Isn’t Gender Diverse, co-authored by Stefanie Greiser and Amy Wood started

4:50 How gender diversity was addressed at CTAConf

7:47 How Stefanie became a speaker at the Unbounce CTAConf

11:16 Her experience working with Oli Gardner, Co-founder of Unbounce as her stage mentor and getting herself stage ready

11:56 The importance of breaking down what you want to teach and share with your audience

13:54 Developing the code of conduct to create a safe, comfortable environment

18:03 Is educating conference organizers or encouraging more women to speak more important?

19:37 Finding speakers for the conference that can bring value to the audience

21:18 How “unseasoned” speakers learn about their audience and create slide decks for them

23:40 The reason there may not be many female founders on stage

24:40 Her experience with inviting male vs. female speakers

26:20 Why lists are only lists until they are put into action

26:30 The #PresentHer list that Stefanie created and how she is putting it into action

Resources

Follow Stefanie Grieser on  Twitter and LinkedIn.

Find out about the Call to Action Conference

About Stefanie Grieser

As the 9th employee at Unbounce, Stefanie Grieser has gone from scrappy startup marketer to passionate, scale-up leader, heading up international markets, partnerships and events. She was named top 100 female marketers to follow and loves turning a good idea into an impactful, memorable experience.

 

The imposter syndrome is something you’ve heard me speak about before on my podcast. But how do we give ourselves permission to be uncertain when we hear that inner voice that screams, “I feel like an imposter!” while we are delivering a speech or presentation?

Dr. Kelly Flanagan, psychologist, blogger, and author is not your typical clinical psychologist. Every week, he has a community of more than 50,000 people that wait for his newsletter where he shares personal stories from his blog, UnTangled. I am one of them. His blog is about telling a redemptive story where he breaks down the suffering and pain of life and makes room for love, grace, and belonging.

The sharing of stories is not common in a psychology practice. However, it has brought him and his family onto the The Today Show. It has also spearheaded his journey to writing his new book, Loveable: Embracing What is Truest About You, So You Can Truly Embrace Your Life.

Kelly’s commencement address, Chase Your Dreams but Chase Them for the Right Reasons, gave me another reason to interview him.

Come join me as Kelly shares how we can normalize the imposter syndrome, why we don’t need to plan too far ahead, and how we can embrace the voice of shame and our worthiness. You’ll learn many nuggets about how he was confronted with the imposter syndrome at his commencement address, the reason for his writing his heartfelt letter to his daughter, and the process he went through to publish his book.

Show Highlights

3:19 What does being redemptive mean?

5:45 How Kelly became comfortable about sharing his personal stories on his blog and with his clients

7:45 How to push the boundaries of traditional clinical psychology but making sure it still serves the client

9:09 The speaker vulnerability crisis and managing it

11:00 Embracing your worthiness, getting on stage and knowing you’re alright, but what are the chickens going to think?

14:00 The ‘Can we all agree on one thing about beauty?‘ post and how Kelly was invited to the Today’s Show

15:40 ‘Of course you’re an imposter!‘ and normalizing the imposter syndrome

16:32 How when we say, “I feel like an imposter” is actually an important moment of becoming more authentic

19:10 Kelly speaks about his experience delivering his commencement speech 20 years after graduating

20:00 How Kelly handled it when he didn’t receive a lot of feedback from the crowd during his speech

22:01 The first core tenant of his speech: Give yourself permission to be uncertain

22: 35 The second core tenant of his speech: Don’t plan too far ahead

24:14 The third core tenant of his speech: The voice of shame and the voice of grace

26:25 Why it’s important to set aside time to be still, quiet, and to listen to the voice of grace

27:32 Kelly answers questions from his new book, Loveable: Embracing What is Truest About You, So You Can Truly Embrace Your Life

35:54 He shares about the process of writing a book including submitting proposals, writing, sending revisions, and getting ready for the launch

37:35 The Karma Envelopes and what they mean

Resources

Read Dr. Kelly Flanagan’s blog 

You may have heard the voice inside your head before. This is the negative chatter called the Imposter Syndrome that speaks at a critical moment of change in your life. Maybe you’ve been asked to give a TEDx talk like Tanya Geisler was.

Tanya, a talented leadership coach and professional speaker has dedicated herself to helping others get unstuck from the imposter complex. Her dedication has led her to sharing this message on the TEDxIsfeldWomen stage in her talk, Owning Our Authority.

Come join me as Tanya shares the tools and techniques of managing imposter syndrome and getting unstuck from the “not good enoughs”. In this interview, you will learn about how Tanya overcame her own imposter complex, how to meet the inner critic, and how it can help you create connection.

Show Highlights

3:00 The words of the imposter complex – “who me?”

5:18 Tanya’s inner critic and thought process as she overcame her own imposter complex

6:40 The reason the imposter syndrome exists and why we allow the cherry bombs of the inner critic to explode

9:00 How the imposter syndrome is a part of our evolution

10:30 Meet the critic and get under the fears that are present

15:10 An alternative strategy to “fake it until you make it”: rooting into your authority

17:00 Reminding yourself from your accomplishments all of the times the imposter complex has come up and how you’ve jumped in spite of it

18:34 The two words the imposter complex hates more than anything – “thank you”

21:57 The ego wants more than what it can get and this is normal part of desiring the next stage

23:08 Creating the imposter jar and how that can help you create connection

24:35 How assembling the cast in the audience can make the difference for you.

Resources

Follow Tanya on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube

Tanya’s TEDxIsfeldWomen talk: Owning Our Authority

Learn more about Tanya Geisler: www.tanyageisler.com

Jill Sherer Murray,  an award-winning journalist, marketing, blogger, and public speaker owns her incredible success to a secret she told on the TEDxWilmington stage. Her secret: The Unstoppable Power of Letting Go. Come join me as Jill shares how she went from manifesting her dream of being on the TEDx stage to preparing for her TEDxWilmington talk, and then standing on the red circle.

I’ve got to admit that this is one of the ‘funnest’ interviews I have done. In this interview, you’ll learn about the process Jill went through for her TEDx talk, how she needed to shorten her talk close to the event day, and how the art of letting go helped her handle what she calls “the best kind of stress”.

Show Highlights

4:00  Why it’s critical to be clear about what you want your audience to know, think, or do when you prepare your presentation. Your intention must be solid.

6:22  Jill was new to applying to speak and talks about the road to getting accepted.

14:00  The responsibility of being a TED speaker.

15:20  The organizers want me to shorten my talk? Now what?

16:28  Don’t be afraid to ask for help from those who have experienced where you need to go.

17:55  Kill your darlings.

19:50  Understanding the importance of the gift of knowledge to deliver an excellent presentation.

21:50  Comparison will hinder your talk.

23:45  Telling your truth is what makes a presentation compelling to listen to.

25:30  The premise of Jill’s talk: How letting go ‘blew up’ her life.

29:00  Love this quote: There’s nothing you want upstream. Everything you want is downstream.

30:38  Stop sleepwalking through epiphanies.

34:40  How to receive valuable feedback as a public speaker.

37:13  600+ practice sessions – was that too many?

42:08  How to practice to control your anxiety and help with breath control.

44:48  The key to adapting your talk for new audiences.

Resources

Follow Jill on Twitter, Facebook or Facebook, LinkedIn, & Instagram: #letgoforit

TEDxWilmington Talk: The Unstoppable Power of Letting Go

Learn more about Jill Sherer Murray: www.letgoforit.com

Learn about her work with on Wild River Review 

Thanks, Jill! It was a pleasure to talk with a fellow sidecar gal!

Come join me as Issac shares how he prepared for his TED talk, how to deal with our inner critic, and how we can create our own reality in every moment.

His inspiring vision has led him to be a public speaker, sharing his story among many stages. His talk at TEDSummit in Banff reached 1 million views in 20 days. Today, it has over 2.2 million views. He has also authored the New York Times Bestseller, Eyes Wide Open.

Despite losing his vision at 25 years old, Issac Lidsky would no doubt tell you he has had amazing life. At 12 years old, Issac was diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa, a rare degenerative disease of his retina that would lead him to eventual blindness.

Even with limited vision, Issac graduated from Harvard Law School magna cum laude. He practiced as a U.S. Justice Department lawyer where he never lost a case. Today, he has retired from his law career and runs his successful construction business after bringing it back from near bankruptcy and is a father of triplets plus one by day. By night, he is a speaker and author, sharing his vision and encouraging others to see beyond their boundaries.

Show Highlights

3:38: Takeaways from delivering a talk at a TED event

4:28: Preparing for a TED event

5:16: Receiving feedback

6:58: Dealing with presentation anxiety

10:43: Be clear about why you are delivering your presentation

13:30: Dealing with the inner critic

15:50: We get to make the choices of how our lives unfold no matter what life throws at us.

Resources

Follow Issac on Twitter (@IssacLidsky)

Follow Issac on Facebook

Learn more about Issac Lidsky: www.lidsky.com

TEDSummit Talk: What Reality Are You Creating For Yourself?

Book: Eyes Wide Open

Mastering Your Reality Interview Series

Put some time aside to listen to this interview with Neil Pasricha. It’s a meaty one that covers many topics that will help you create a presentation and shares insight to the happiness equation. Neil generously shares the mechanics of creating a TED talk – from managing anxiety to the rigour of practicing and challenging an audience to listen.

Neil is a sought after speaker having delivered two presentations as a TEDx speaker and a New York Times best selling author. He flips the equation on happiness to challenge the way that many of us strive for it. In Neil’s TED talk The 3 A’s of Awesome he shares that Attitude, Awareness, and Authenticity are the road to getting there not the conventional wisdom of working hard that’s often shared. As the creator of The Institute for Global Happiness he works with organizations as a change maker to support employee engagement and ultimately, happiness. Join us won’t you…

Timeline

1:30 – The happiness equation

3:00 – Flip conventional thinking for happiness

5:40 – When is enough, enough?

10:00 – Comparing ourselves to the ‘director’s cut’ trap

12:00 – Suicide rates at an all time high: 12 in a 100,000

12:48 – Mechanics to creating a TED talk

15:00 – Experiencing nerves and fear

18:00 – How Neil prepares -> commitment to practicing

19:30 – It’s not about the speaker, it’s about the audience

20:00 – The value of live speaking events vs. dialing in a YouTube video

22:35 – Delivering the second TED talk – lessons learned from the first

24:50 – TED Talk  Listen

25:44 – The power of the pause

32:00 – Why Neil created the Institute for Global Happiness

41:30 – Why countries such as Sweden and Canada rank high on the happiness scale

End – “The longer you hold your breath under water the more interesting place you will come up”.

Resources

The Global Happiness Institute

TEDx Talk: The 3 A’s of Awesome

TEDxTalk: How to maximize your tiny, short life?

Books: The Book of Awesome, The Book of (Even More) Awesome, The Book of (Holiday) Awesome, Awesome is Everywhere, and The Happiness Equation.

Talks at Google